Restraining Government in America and Around the World

Anti-Libertarian Humor

Most of the political humor that reaches my inbox is somewhat partisan, which is not what I want. My goal is to mock leftists and statists, not Democrats (though I couldn’t resist sharing this anti-Obama joke from a Republican friend).

To demonstrate my non-partisan bona fides, I asked the other day for readers to send in jokes and cartoons, particularly ones that don’t necessarily target the big-government crowd.

Ask and ye shall receive. Here’s a very worthy contribution.

Is it an accurate portrayal of libertarianism? Of course not. But effective humor takes something that is true and applies it in an absurd fashion. Which is why I’ve always enjoyed this video mocking libertarianism.

The biggest factor left out of the point of the joke here is that in the absence of having a government “look out for you,” people will find their own ways of communicating information in the market.

In the case of this particular joke, this situation would be no more likely than a highly regualated lake with a fishing czar. Why? Because people respond to incentives. In the absence of government, individuals will form their own organziations that will help give our information about risks. People will be more careful knowing that they are responsible for their decisions since they know that they will personally pay a price if they miscalculate.

The entire idea that we are stupid idiots without government is very insulting. This is what most big-government advocates are actually saying…even if they do not know it.

[…] start with a video portraying Somalia as a libertarian paradise, followed by cartoons on libertarian ice fishing and libertarian lifeguards, then an info-graphic showing 24 types of libertarians, and close with a […]

[…] We’ll start with a video portraying Somalia as a libertarian paradise, followed by cartoons on libertarian ice fishing and libertarian lifeguards, then an info-graphic showing 24 types of libertarians, and close with a […]